The construction site of Sittwe port under Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (Photo-EMG)

The Kaladan Project support
committee has announced that they will finish the waterway phase of the
multi-transit route between Sittwe and the Indian border by March 2015.

The
Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project aims to create a trade route
between Sittwe port, in Rakhine State, and the land-locked region of
Mizoram, in northeastern India, via river and road transport.

The
waterway phase involves constructing an integrated port and inland
water transport system, including dredging a navigational channel 158 km
along the river Kaladan from Sittwe to Paletwa.

"The
waterway project will be completed by the end of March in 2015. The
whole project will be completed later than the expected deadline is
2016. A waterway project from Paletwa to Setpyitpyin has been cancelled
and it's decided that only a road will be built as a replacement," said a
top-ranking official from Myanmar Port Authority.

He
added that the Indian company ESSAR which is carrying out several
phases of the project will have to request more money from the Indian
government to complete the road project.

The expressway which will connect Paletwa to the Indian border will cost an estimated US$ 140 million.

In
April 2008 the Indian government signed a deal for the Kaladan Project
with the former military junta, aimed at easing commercial access to the
remote and landlocked regions of north-eastern India.

Six
300-tonne vessels will also be built under the project but equipment
still needs to be imported to Myanmar, according to the support
committee.